Block B Extension (2017-2018)

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Back to Our History

Outgrowing the Shed

By the mid-2010s the Shed had grown well past its founding numbers — membership climbed from around 140 in 2014 to over 200 by 2016 — and demand was growing from both existing and prospective members for space to do metalwork and light engineering: welding, lathe work and milling that the original building (Block A) simply had no room for. The Management Committee began planning an extension in earnest from 2015.

Grants, Delays, and a Development Application

Funding came together in stages: the NSW Government’s Community Building Partnership program approved $26,120 in principle, and the Shed applied to the Commonwealth’s Stronger Communities Program for a further $20,000. Both were eventually secured. The Development Application took much longer — starting in 2015, four different building designs were worked through before Council was satisfied, and the process was complicated by the site’s Duffys Forest Ecological Community classification, which required a Bush Management Plan to offset the loss of four trees. The DA (DA0074/17) was finally approved on 12 May 2017. Outwest Sheds (trading as Fair Dinkum Sheds) was selected as builder, and site works began in the second half of 2017.

The original Ku-ring-gai Community Shed building before the Block B extension was added
The original Shed (Block A) at St Ives Showground, before Block B was added alongside it.

Building It (Late 2017 – Early 2018)

Once earthworks began, a dedicated project team — led by Mal Bailey as project manager, with Kevin Callinan, Tony Varrall, Mike Vernon and Bob Lions among the building committee — worked alongside the builder through summer and into autumn 2018. Weekly progress reports from January and February 2018 capture the grind of it: members barrowing gravel through the mud for drainage trenches, the concrete slab going down, the steel frame rising, and the Council-required eco stormwater drainage being dug in and connected by hand.

Two Shed members doing site preparation work in muddy conditions, January 2018
Site works in the mud, January 2018.
Shed member working in a trench installing eco stormwater drainage pipework
Installing the eco stormwater drainage Council required as part of the build.
Crane truck delivering building materials onto the poured concrete slab for Block B
Materials delivered onto the freshly poured slab, 19 February 2018.
Steel frame of Block B with roof largely complete, nearing lock-up stage
The steel frame nearing lock-up, late February 2018.

Total expenditure came to roughly $141,000–$142,000, covering government grants of $46,120 and funds the Shed had built up itself — much of it earned through Kevin Jeffress and his team’s ongoing native bee box program. By September 2018 the shell was complete and work was underway on painting, security cameras and the final fit-out.

Interior of the completed Block B shell showing steel frame, roller door and windows
“A job well done” — the finished Block B shell, ready for fit-out.
Shed member sealing the newly laid concrete floor inside Block B
Finishing touches: sealing the new floor ahead of opening.

Official Opening — Friday 26 October 2018

Block B was officially opened on Friday 26 October 2018. Guests represented all three tiers of government: Tori Huxtable stood in for the Federal Member for Bradfield, the Hon. Paul Fletcher MP; Jonathan O’Dea MP, State Member for Davidson, and Alister Henskens SC MP, State Member for Ku-ring-gai, both attended; and the Mayor of Ku-ring-gai, Clr Jennifer Anderson, represented Council. Representatives of Bendigo Community Bank and builder Outwest Sheds were also present. President Stephen Lloyd gave a speech acknowledging Mal Bailey’s dedication in delivering the project, along with the wider building committee and volunteer members, before guests cut the ribbon and the Shed hosted morning tea.

What Block B Made Possible

The new building gave the Shed proper capacity for welding and fabrication, milling and lathe work, general engineering, and electrical repairs and test-and-tag — plus a large multi-purpose space for training days, forums and events that Block A could never have hosted. One of the first big jobs to come out of the new workshop was a run of metal cat cages, noted at the time as the first major metalworking project completed in the extension.

Rows of metal cat cages under construction inside the new Block B workshop
Cat cages under construction — the first major metalworking project completed in the new Block B extension.

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